Araba Takyiwa at far left/rear with 3 of her children in school uniforms; and her neighbors - 2nd and 3rd right/rear, and their schooled children; beside them are Project staff
Child Labor Practitioner, Turned-Advocate
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A Mother and Now an
Advocate for Keeping
Children Safe and in
School
FIRST PERSON STORY
”I will use my own story as
a means to advocate
against child labour and
trafficking in Elmina.”
Araba Takyiwa, 46
A mother of seven who trafficked her 13 year old daughter and al-lowed her sons aged 7 and 10 years to labor in fisheries in-stead of attending school is now an anti-child labor and trafficking advocate who is helping change the lives of her own children and those of others in her poor fish-ing community.
Elmina is one of the largest fishing communities in Ghana with a vast landing site that accommodates its own fisher folks as well as migrants from other communities within the same Central Region, such as Moree, Anomabo, Apam, Abandzi, Winneba, Komenda etc). The situation has resulted in a rise in child labor activities in the community and environs.
Almost 85 per cent of Elmina’s population, including migrants, keeps their children out of school so they can labor in fisheries or in other hazardous work to earn income for their family. Some even push their children into sexual activities in exchange for fish, or in exchange for money, traffick them to other countries. Not only are these children’s lives and health endangered, but they lose out on the very education that might help them escape this cycle of poverty and child labour. USAID is helping change this through the Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project component on behavior change communications aimed at training community anti-Child Labor and Trafficking (CLaT) Advocates. These advocates counsel households who engage their children in hazardous work or traffick them, on the dangers that come with this way of life – health hazards and in some cases, even loss of their childrens’ lives. And, they encourage parents to keep their children out of work and in school.
